A judge has dismissed a challenge by three preservation groups that hoped to block the sale of the vacant city-owned building at 2 Columbus Circle -- the former Huntington Hartford Gallery of Modern Art -- to the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design. Justice Walter Tolub of State Supreme Court in Manhattan rejected the groups' claim that an environmental review was deficient and said that city and state agencies had not exceeded their power when they decided that the 40-year-old building was ''not worthy of preservation in its present form.'' The groups object to the museum's plan to remove the modernist facade. Kate Wood, the executive director of Landmark West, one of the groups in the lawsuit, said no decision had been made on whether to appeal. James Barron (NYT)

Correction: April 20, 2004, Tuesday A report in the Metro Briefing column on Friday about a judge's dismissal of a challenge to the sale of 2 Columbus Circle misidentified the buyer. It is the Museum of Arts and Design, not the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design.